Synopsis: Minnie thinks it's going to be a boring summer...then Briggsy arrives with the travelling fair. he's not like anyone she's ever met. He lives life, takes risks, and Minnie is hooked...

Review: Isla Dewar has written novels across the audience spectrum, from adults to to children. With this slim novel, originally published in 2003 as Walking with Rainbows, she extends her range yet further - to those for whom reading is not a first choice and, unusually for Barrington Stoke's publications, she writes her story from a female point of view.

Briggsy's family travels with the fairground and when he turns up at Minnie's school, Minnie knows he's not like the other boys. Although not everyone welcomes the travellers, Briggsy's passion for life ensures that the time Minnie spends with him is going to change her life forever. Because she was born with a life-threatening condition, Minnie has been cossetted and pampered from birth, and relishes Briggsy's off-the-wall attitude, combined with a sophisticated philosophical insight. He shares with her his passion for cooking, the stars and his talent for buying and selling things. Through her short time with him Minnie learns to value those natural wonders and ordinary experiences which are free and wonderful, and to form lasting friendships which will survive across time and place.

 An excellent short novel to encourage readers to think in new ways about their lives, and about growing up and relationships .

2008-07-21